CANCER FREE
Life slowly returning to normal
After the stem cell transplant in 2008, Ben had been doing great! He had been going to school, playing soccer, traveling, ... what every boy would normally do. It took us a very long time to slow down our worrying about how he was doing. Every year when we went to do blood work at the hospital, it would bring back all the worry and anxiety that we had while in the hospital during all those previous years of treatment.
Ben went through middle school (grades 6, 7 and 8) doing many activities. He was in band, playing the trumpet.
He loved to write scripts, act and put together movies with his friends both for assignments and for fun. In 2012-13, he was in grade 8. I was lucky enough to transfer to his school and teach grade 8 that year. I taught everything except Math and Science to the grade 8 French Immersion students. So I had Ben in my class for French, Socials and P.E. It was great to see him everyday and to see how different our kids are in a school environment. He is funny, creative, popular and smart! I would make jokes about him in class, much to his embarrassment, I'm sure. He would do the same back at me once in a while.
Ben made a speech in grade 8 in front of the entire school, about his experience with cancer, for the Terry Fox Run. It was an amazing speech with jokes thrown in there to lighten things up. He wrote it entirely himself. I was in tears. The whole audience was very silent but exploded with applause when he was done. I was so proud!
Ben started high school the following year. He did many activities and continued band but added jazz band. He came is second place for a spoken word poetry contest. He was on the honour roll with straight A's through grade 9 and 10 with 86 to 97 percentile in all his subjects. He worked hard on all his assignments. He had lots of friends and every year, during the last week of June, he would throw a year-end party at our house. He would organize these parties right down to the minute. This included games, music, when to serve food, when to go swimming, and when to turn on which lights for the dance portion of the party. He had DJ lights, mixes, smoke machines ... the whole setup for a great party. When he turned 16 years of age, he wanted a party bus to take him and his friends to a park where they could play games and relax for 2 hours and then return to the party. Quite fun actually! The photo above was taken from that party (2015).
So the summer of 2015, we were going to relax and maybe go to Vegas for a quick getaway. Maybe do a little camping in Oregon and biking trips etc. Then it would be grade 11 in the Fall.
After the stem cell transplant in 2008, Ben had been doing great! He had been going to school, playing soccer, traveling, ... what every boy would normally do. It took us a very long time to slow down our worrying about how he was doing. Every year when we went to do blood work at the hospital, it would bring back all the worry and anxiety that we had while in the hospital during all those previous years of treatment.
Ben went through middle school (grades 6, 7 and 8) doing many activities. He was in band, playing the trumpet.
He loved to write scripts, act and put together movies with his friends both for assignments and for fun. In 2012-13, he was in grade 8. I was lucky enough to transfer to his school and teach grade 8 that year. I taught everything except Math and Science to the grade 8 French Immersion students. So I had Ben in my class for French, Socials and P.E. It was great to see him everyday and to see how different our kids are in a school environment. He is funny, creative, popular and smart! I would make jokes about him in class, much to his embarrassment, I'm sure. He would do the same back at me once in a while.
Ben made a speech in grade 8 in front of the entire school, about his experience with cancer, for the Terry Fox Run. It was an amazing speech with jokes thrown in there to lighten things up. He wrote it entirely himself. I was in tears. The whole audience was very silent but exploded with applause when he was done. I was so proud!
Ben started high school the following year. He did many activities and continued band but added jazz band. He came is second place for a spoken word poetry contest. He was on the honour roll with straight A's through grade 9 and 10 with 86 to 97 percentile in all his subjects. He worked hard on all his assignments. He had lots of friends and every year, during the last week of June, he would throw a year-end party at our house. He would organize these parties right down to the minute. This included games, music, when to serve food, when to go swimming, and when to turn on which lights for the dance portion of the party. He had DJ lights, mixes, smoke machines ... the whole setup for a great party. When he turned 16 years of age, he wanted a party bus to take him and his friends to a park where they could play games and relax for 2 hours and then return to the party. Quite fun actually! The photo above was taken from that party (2015).
So the summer of 2015, we were going to relax and maybe go to Vegas for a quick getaway. Maybe do a little camping in Oregon and biking trips etc. Then it would be grade 11 in the Fall.